And in this case, it involves the US acting as a modern-day missionary to spread the gospel of fracking to further its own interests.

Biden: 'fracking is freedom'

With the ongoing Russian occupation of Crimea serving as the backdrop for the trip, Biden made Vladimir Putin's Russia and its dominance of the global gas market one of the centerpieces of a key speech he gave while in Kiev.

"And as you attempt to pursue energy security, there's no reason why you cannot be energy secure. I mean there isn't. It will take time. It takes some difficult decisions, but it's collectively within your power and the power of Europe and the United States", Biden said.

"And we stand ready to assist you in reaching that. Imagine where you'd be today if you were able to tell Russia: Keep your gas. It would be a very different world you'd be facing today."

The other way: by exporting US fracked gas to the global market, namely EU countries currently heavily dependent on Russia's gas spigot.

In this sense, the crisis in Ukraine - as Naomi Klein pointed out in a recent article - has merely served as a 'shock doctrine' excuse to push through plans that were already long in the making. In other words, it's 'old wine in a new bottle'.

That section contains three main things the US will do to ensure US oil and gas companies continue to profit during this geopolitical stand-off.

Help with pipelines and securing access to gas at the midstream level of production. "Today, a US interagency expert team arrived in Kyiv to help Ukraine secure reverse flows of natural gas from its European neighbors", the White House fact sheet explains. "Reverse flows of natural gas will provide Ukraine with additional immediate sources of energy."

Technical assistance to help boost conventional gas production in Ukraine. That is, gas obtained not from fracking and horizontal drilling, but via traditional vertical drilling. As the White House explains, "US technical experts will join with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and others in May to help Ukraine develop a public-private investment initiative to increase conventional gas production from existing fields to boost domestic energy supply."

Shale gas missionary work."A technical team will also engage the government on measures that will help the Ukrainian government ensure swift and environmentally sustainable implementation of contracts signed in 2013 for shale gas development", says the White House.

ExxonMobil teaching Russia fracking

Ironically, as the US government teams up with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to teach Ukraine fracking in order to wean the country off of Russian gas, US-based 'private empire' ExxonMobil is doing the same work in Russia to help the country tap into its shale oil and gas bounty.

"The JV will implement a pilot work program in order to assess and determine the technical possibility of developing the ... Bazhenov formation ... in Western Siberia", reads a Rosneft press release. "The plan is to perform the pilot work program within 2013-2015 timeframe."